In Our View: Making good on promise

Opinion

Discussion

November 21, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Sat Nov 21, 2009, 08:46 AM CST

For the second year in a row, in-state, undergraduate students at Missouri’s four-year, public colleges and universities and at two year-community colleges won’t see increases in tuition or academic fees.

It’s a campaign promise that Gov. Jay Nixon has made good on.

Last week, Nixon announced the deal where by universities and colleges would not raise tuition on in-state, undergraduate students for the 2010-11 school year. In return, Nixon has agreed to maintain higher education funding at approximately 95 percent of the current fiscal year’s appropriation.

For Missouri Southern State University, the cut in state funding in 2010-11 will amount to about $1.2 million.

When we think back to the withholdings while Bob Holden was governor, this seems like a much better arrangement for higher education.

We remember Nixon telling us — before he was elected — how important it was to make it easier and cheaper for people to go to college. Getting better jobs for Missouri depended on more training and better education.

Four-year institutions will see a reduction of 5.2 percent funding, or $42 million. Two-year colleges will see the same percentage of reduction, or about $8 million.

Prior to last year’s freeze, tuition at Missouri’s public, four-year colleges and universities increased by an average of 7.5 percent a year over the past decade.

As the area waits for the economy to rebound and jobs to open up, many people are using the time to further their education. That means that enrollments are up. That money should offset part of what the colleges and universities will be losing.

Tuition has jumped by an average of 6.5 percent nationally. In some states, that increase has been as much as 17 percent.

And then there’s California. Last week, students at University of California-Berkeley were protesting a 32 percent increase in student fees and had barricaded themselves inside part of a campus building. About 30 to 50 protesters staged a takeover of Campbell Hall at UCLA on Thursday, as regents met across campus to approve the fee hike. More than 50 students were arrested during protests at UC-Davis.

Regents say they had to raise fees because the cash-strapped state government can’t meet the university’s funding needs.

All in all, it looks like Missouri is on the right track.

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In Our View: Making good on promise

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